Wisconsin basketball may end up removing 2 quad-1 games from their schedule

The Wisconsin Badgers won another quad one game last night when they beat the Ohio State Buckeyes 70-68. Or did they? At the time, yes, it was a big quad-one win, with the Buckeyes being ranked 29 in the NET. At home, any opponent NET 30 and under is a quad-one win. However, that loss dropped Ohio State to 31, making the Wisconsin win only (currently) count as a quad-two win. The Badgers actually removed a quad-one win by winning. This is Big Ten basketball.

Wisconsin basketball plays two teams on the cusp of being quad-one in a row. Winning them both may drop them to quad two games.

The other team that is on the cusp of a quad-one game is the USC Trojans. They are currently 71 in the NET, and road games that are 75 and under are a quad one game. The Trojans just jumped under that threshold when they beat Iowa and could easily fall back out of that threshold with a loss to Wisconsin. This means that Wisconsin could actually remove two quad-one games from their schedule just by winning against teams that are barely eligible for quad-one status.

Now, it's all temporary. If Ohio State rattles off a few wins coming up, they will jump back to quad one, and that game will move to a quad one game win again. The same could be true for USC; however, as of now, Wisconsin can do themselves a disservice simply by doing themselves a service and winning in a hilarious twist of how the NET rankings and the quadrants work.

If Ohio State and USC end up being quad-one games by the end of the season or even sooner, this stretch of games features three quad-one wins in a row: Ohio State, USC, and UCLA. Then it will be a quad two game, with Nebraska jumping back to quad one in Maryland. It's a tough stretch for the Badgers but also a stretch full of opportunities to improve the resume.